UA: 236/10 Index: MDE 15/027/2010 Israel
Date: 12 November 2010
URGENT ACTION
ISRAEL: demolition of bedouin village
imminent
Around 250 residents, one third of
them children, of the Bedouin village al-‘Araqib in southern Israel are
facing forcible eviction from their land and the destruction of their property
for the seventh time since July. Although residents have a long-established
claim to the area and are Israeli citizens, the Israeli government does
not recognize their rights to the land.
Since July, al-‘Araqib village has been
destroyed by the Israeli authorities at least once a month and the villagers
anticipate further destruction within the next week. Earlier this week,
Israeli authorities demolished a mosque in the nearby Bedouin town of Rahat,
and the neighbouring local council refused to continue selling water to
residents of al-‘Araqib. Persistent attempts by the villagers and their
supporters to rebuild their homes have been met by further destruction,
and the entire village is threatened. Residents are currently camping out
in makeshift shacks and tents.
On 27 July, at least 46 homes and other
structures in al-‘Araqib, including animal pens and water tanks, were
destroyed by officials of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) accompanied
by over 1,000 police officers. The entire village was razed by bulldozers,
and thousands of olive and other trees were uprooted, destroying the villagers’
livelihood. Possessions including electricity generators, refrigerators
and vehicles were confiscated by the police.
On 4 and 10 August, makeshift shelters
that the villagers had built were demolished and buried by bulldozers,
supported by a large police force in riot gear equipped with a water cannon.
Building materials and water tanks were seized; seven residents were arrested
but later released, four on condition that they not enter al-‘Araqib.
Then on 17 August, the authorities recommenced demolitions at dawn during
Ramadan, while the villagers were fasting. On 12 September at dawn, dozens
of police arrived again at al-‘Araqib with bulldozers and destroyed newly
erected tents and other structures. The sixth and latest demolition was
on 13 October, when the entire village was razed to the ground, and the
director of the Negev Coexistence Forum, a group supporting the villagers,
was arrested by police and banned from entering al-‘Araqib for 10 days.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Hebrew,
English or your own language:
n Urging
the Israeli authorities not to destroy al-‘Araqib again, and to allow
the villagers to rebuild their homes;
n Urging
the Israeli authorities to immediately end the policy of home demolitions
in al-‘Araqib and other “unrecognized” villages in Israel, and
to take steps to officially recognize al-‘Araqib and other “unrecognized”
villages so as to allow residents security of tenure and the possibility
of developing their villages without threat to their homes and livelihoods;
n Urging
the Israeli authorities to take immediate steps in line with the UN Human
Rights Committee’s recommendations of July 2010 to guarantee access to
health structures, education, water and electricity for residents of these
villages.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 DECEMBER
2010 TO:
Director-General of the ILA
Yaron Bibi
Israel Lands Administration
6 Shamai Street
P.O. Box 2600
Jerusalem 94631, Israel
Fax: +972 2 620 8427
Email: natalil@mmi.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Director-General,
ILA
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of the Interior
Eliyahu Yishai
2 Kaplan Street
PO Box 6158
Kiryat Ben Gurion
Jerusalem 91061, Israel
Fax: +972 2 666 2909
Email: sar@moin.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister
And copies to:
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
,
Hakirya
PO Box 187, Jerusalem, Israel
Fax: + 972 2 566 4838
Email: pm_eng@pmo.gov.ilAlso
send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Check
with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
israel: demolition of bedouin village
imminent
ADditional Information
These demolitions come in the context
of ongoing Israeli government actions against residents of “unrecognized”
villages like al-‘Araqib. Dozens of Bedouin villages in southern Israel
and other parts of the country are not formally recognized by the state
authorities, even though their tens of thousands of residents are Israeli
citizens. They lack basic services and live under constant threat of destruction
of their homes and eviction from the land. This year has seen a marked
increase in the demolition of Bedouin homes in the Negev (or Naqab) area
of southern Israel. The Israel Lands Administration classifies al-‘Araqib
and other “unrecognized” villages as state land and claims that
the Bedouin citizens of Israel “invaded” these areas. Yet, the
Bedouin have a well-established historical claim to live there and international
human rights law supports the view that they should be free from threats
of home demolition or forced evictions.
In its concluding observations in July
2010, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) stated its concern about “allegations
of forced evictions of the Bedouin population based on the Public Land
Law (Expulsion of Invaders) of 1981 as amended in 2005” and about
what it described as the Israeli authorities “inadequate consideration”
of the agricultural and other traditional needs of the Bedouin population
of the Negev and the difficulties that the Bedouin face in accessing “health
structures, education, water and electricity” due to Israeli policies.
The HRC called for the Israeli authorities to “respect the Bedouin
population’s right to their ancestral land and their traditional livelihood
based on agriculture” and to “guarantee the Bedouin population’s
access to health structures, education, water and electricity, irrespective
of their whereabouts” in Israel. The UN Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination has also expressed concern about Israel’s relocation
of Bedouin residents of “unrecognized” villages to towns and
called for their villages to be officially recognized, and for Israel to
“enhance its efforts to consult” the villagers and seek their
agreement or consent in advance of any process of relocation.
Despite an apparent governmental plan
to regularize the status of some of the “unrecognized” villages, it was
reported in the Israeli media in early 2010 that the Interior Ministry,
the Israel Lands Administration and the police had decided to triple
the demolition rate of Bedouin construction in the Negev, and the marked
increase in the number of demolitions and demolition orders this year accords
with such reports.
UA: 236/10 Index: MDE 15/027/2010 Issue
Date: 12 November 2010
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East Mediterranean Team
Amnesty International, International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW
United Kingdom
E-mail: Eastmed@amnesty.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7413 5500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7413 5719
—
Working to protect human rights worldwide